Is it getting HARDER to fill your coaching programs?

Not long ago, one of my clients – we’ll call her Tracy – felt completely frustrated because her business income had plateaued and her programs were harder to fill than they used to be.

Tracy’s problem was the fact that she focused more on selling her programs than building her list. Sure, she sent out a weekly blog and dabbled in social media, but she had no real process to bring a consistent flow of new subscribers to her list.

It wasn’t long ago that I was in Tracy’s shoes, so it was easy to spot the pitfall she’d fallen into. It’s one most coaches make because list building ain’t all that sexy, right?

But if you offer online programs, large group courses, or even private coaching, your list growth matters. A lot. Probably more than anything else (except of course your coaching skills).

Here’s why:

1. You can expect about 1% of your list to sign up for any online program you offer. So, if your list is about 1200 people, that means you can expect 12 of them to become clients.

2. The next time you host this program, if your list hasn’t grown, you can expect even less than a 1% enrollment rate. And even less the third time you launch. I think you see where this is going…

So, if you find that it’s harder to fill your programs or the flow of leads into your private practice has slowed, it’s time to make list building a top priority.

Here are my three favorite no-cost strategies to build that list of yours:

#1: Coordinate a lead magnet cross-promotion with a fellow coach who shares your audience.

This one’s my favorite because it’s pretty effortless. Just research a list of coaches or other service providers who have different expertise than you do, but share a similar audience. From there, ask them if they’d like to share your freebie to their list while you share theirs with your audience. What a simple way to grow your community through referral marketing!

#2: Share a free five-day training inside your Facebook group.

This strategy packs a 1-2 punch because not only will you naturally attract new members to your Facebook group, but you’ll build trust right away by sharing your expertise. You can invite peers, clients or even your Facebook group members to promote the event, so word can spread pretty quickly.

#3: Host a speaker series and ask your guests to promote their interview.

I have a love-hate relationship with summits because they require a ton of work. Plus, if you don’t curate the right group of experts, you may end up with a big ‘ol list of people who aren’t your target audience.

So, why not lower the workload and the mania by replacing your sumit strategy with a rolling speaker series? That might look like hosting 1-4 interviews a month featuring allied professionals who, of course, promote their interview to their community.

If you take one thing away from this blog, I hope it’s this:

List building is probably the most important thing you can do to take your business into six figures.

And if you take a second thing away, it better be this:

It doesn’t have to be a pain in your butt. The secret is to focus on 1-3 simple strategies that you can focus on consistently over time.